During the Middle Ages magic in Europe took on many forms.

Instead of being able to identify

one type of magician, there were many who practiced several types of magic in these times,
including: monks, priests, physicians, surgeons, midwives, folk healers, and diviners.
The practice of “magic” often consisted of using medicinal herbs for healing purposes. Classical
medicine entailed magical elements, they would use charms or potions in hopes of driving out a
sickness.
Medicinal practices in the Middle Ages were often regarded as forms of “natural magic”. One in
particular was referred to as a “leechbook”, or a doctor-book that included masses to be said over
the healing herbs. In addition to the leechbook, the Lacnunga included many prescriptions
derived from the European folk culture that more intensely involved magic. The Lacnunga
prescribed a set of Christian prayers to be said over the ingredients used to make the medicine,
and such ingredients were to be mixed by straws with the names “Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John” inscribed on them.
Prayers, blessings, and adjurations were all common forms of verbal formulas whose intentions
were hard to distinguish between the magical and the religious . Prayers were typically requests
directed to a holy figure such as God, a saint, Christ, or Mary. Blessings more often were
addressed to patients, and came in the form of wishes for good fortune. Adjurations, also known
as exorcisms were more directed to either a sickness, or the agent responsible such as a worm,
demon, or elf. While these three verbal formulas may have had religious intentions, they often
played a role in magical practices. When the emphasis of a prayer so apparently relied on the
observance of religiously irrelevant conditions, we can characterize it as magical. Blessings were
more often than not strictly religious as well, unless they were used alongside magic or in a
magical context. However, adjurations required closer scrutiny, as their formulas were generally
derived from folklore. The command targeted at the sickness or evil left the possibility of refusal,
meaning the healer entered a battle with the devil in which he or she relied on a holy power to
come to his/her aid. Though people at this age were less concerned with whether or not these
verbal formulas involved magic or not, but rather with the reality of if they were or were not
successful. .
Not only was it difficult to make the distinction between the magical and religious, but what was
even more challenging was to distinguish between helpful magic from harmful magic. Medical
magic and protective magic were regarded as helpful, and called ‘white’, while sorcery was
considered evil and ‘black’. Distinguishing between black magic and white magic often relied on
perperspectiv.
In this era, magic was only punished if it was deemed to be ‘black’, meaning it was the practice
of a sorcerer with harmful intentions.